Farewell

Hey everyone! 

This week has been super sad because Sister Harris, my beautiful, awesome, powerful companion is actually going home. Maybe some of you remember, but she is really sick. President Fisher decided that it was time for her to go home to get better there where she can fully rest and not only halfway rest because she is on a mission. I understand, I really, really do but it is just the worse. We have only been together for 2 1/2 weeks but we got really close in that time and I will miss her a lot. I know that home is where the Lord needs her though and I hope that she will get better soon when she is there! 

So, Sister Harris will probs leave tomorrow for Colorado and then I will have a new companion! I don't who, but it will for sure be someone! We are going on three companions in just one transfer, I think that I have broken some kind of record haha. (Actually, it's going to be FOUR companions in one transfer. Emily emailed yesterday to let us know she'd been put in as a third missionary with her roommates Sister Whitmarsh from Australia and Sister Moala from Tonga.)

Well, I hope you all have an awesome week and please keep praying for Sister Harris that she will get better! Love you all! 

Sister Moran

****************************

Okay, this pday has been super wild so I will just try to get everything in here pretty quick if I can. 

So, last Tuesday we had a mission activity and we went to the Mormon Flats and hiked it and it was about 5 miles but the good news it was all flat and when it wasn't flat, it was downhill. When we got to the basecamp we all just hung out and played games! President got out his guitar and we all sang some fun songs and then ate some really good food! We roasted hotdogs and had chips and cookies and s'mores for dessert. They had cornhole at the activity and Sister Harris and I went AT IT. I taught her how to play and for a while, I was really killing it but then I accidentally went over 21 points and it went back down. Sad. We ended up stopping the game at 17-11 (me winning of course) because it was time to eat dessert and then all of the Chinese sisters hijacked the game haha. But it was good! Overall a really fun activity. 

Another fun thing happened this week..... lice. Temple square got a lice infestation. So, on Tuesday, right after the activity at 9:30 pm, we went to the designated lice check room and got our heads checked. I was clean but poor Sister Harris had a bunch of eggs but no bugs. She was about to die. I really didn't want lice but I didn't want her to have lice alone so I literally said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to give me lice so that way Sister Harris didn't have to have lice alone but alas I had none. So, long story short we had to treat the lice right away so us and one other companionship were up until 1am in the lice check room treating Sister Harris. It took like four hours because this woman has thick hair. It is actually kind of comical how much crap Sister Harris is going through currently. When we finally got home at 1am we were too tired to do anything else but clean our sheets but we obviously couldn't sleep in our beds so we just got new blankets from the "clean" closet and rolled up in them and went to sleep right on the floor. We woke up at 6:30 but then decided to skip exercise time and just use it as a nap time. We then were informed by our zone leaders that we were not allowed to go to square because Sister Harris had lice and we were quarantined for the day. That was actually the worst because Sister Harris is sick and could sleep all day but I am not sick and I was awake all day. I read the entire book of First Nephi, caught up on my journal, stretched, tried out meditation, and sang to myself. It was a good day. 

Thursday, Sister Harris got permission to go to the doctor with her mom (her mom was in town for BYU education week so they just went together) and so I was in a trio with my district leaders for the day which was super awesome! We ended up being in the South Visitor's Center for two hours and working through lunch and then going right to the Assembly Hall and we didn't eat lunch until 3pm. I loved to just finally be up and working hard. When I got Sister Harris back she had just tried drinking a smoothie and then threw it up so we had to take a break so she could nap. It has been so hard to see her so sick. Anyways, they didn't see anything wrong with her stomach but the doctor said that he was pretty sure it was gastroparesis (I don't know if I spelled that right) but they gave her this pill that we refer to as the "magic pill" that should have fixed her as soon as she started taking it. Just have it 15 minutes before you eat and watch it work it's magic!

At first we thought it worked! We eased into things by having some applesauce and she kept it down for two hours but then it came up. We were like oh it isn't a big deal though because that was the first try so of course it will be rocky. After the second, third, and fourth tries, we realized that it wasn't going to work. And so then, like I told you, President was like no I won't send you home because you won't get better there, but then now he is sending her home. We have her flight details, she leaves tomorrow at 11:13 and she needs to be at the airport at 9am. So that is that! I still don't know who my new comp will be or if I will be in a trio or what but I will let you know later if it is still my pday. Or, you can stalk my google photos and see who I start taking selfies with!

It has been really hard with Sister Harris, not because she is hard to deal with because she isn't, she is awesome! She is easily the companion that I became the fastest friend with. But it has been hard because she is sick and we have to go slow. But, do you remember how I told you that I had prayed and asked God to give me a trial and humble me so I could love my companion more? Well, I was thinking that was because I was having a hard time loving Sister Johnson, but when literally the next day I got Sister Harris I was really confused. But now I realize that Sister Harris is how I learned to love more. I feel like the Grinch. Like my heart has grown 3-5 sizes as I have been with her. I have had to serve her and help her and focus on her and not on myself and I will forever be grateful for the two and a half weeks I had with her because I have learned countless valuable lessons. 

Anyways, I love you both a lot and if I know who my new comp or comps will be I will email it to you. Pray for Sister Harris! And also pray for Sharon and her kids!!! Love you so much!

Love 

Em 

Switcheroo

Hey Everyone! I know, the past two weeks have been the longest of your life because you haven't been able to hear from your favorite missionary, but don't worry, I'm back with lots of fun things to talk about;) 

Okay, so these past two weeks have actually been wild because I got a new companion! I know what you are thinking, it hasn't been six weeks yet and you are correct, but, some other sister went home and then one sister came early from outbound and when the APs and President looked at the transfer board, they decided that Sister Johnson and I were the people they needed to split to put with the two struggling sisters. So, my new companion is Sister Harris from Colorado!!!! She is super crazy and I love her a lot. She is very sick though, like very very sick, so if you all could please pray for her it would be greatly appreciated. 

Emily and Sister Johnson, who were companions for three short weeks

Emliy and Sister Harris, her new companion

Anyway, more on missionary work: We found this awesome lady named Sharon and her three kids and literally two days after we first called them they went to church. Then, just two weeks after our initial phone call,  Sharon and her three kids committed to being baptized on September 28! What a miracle! We are so excited for Sharon and her kids and we love them a lot:) 

Well, that is about it but I hope you all have an amazing week! I'd love to know how you're doing so please send me an email and I'll respond as soon as I can:) 

Sister Moran 

***********************

Hey Mom and Dad! Buckle up, this weeks email is a doozy. Okay, it actually isn't that crazy but you know it's chill. 

It all started on Tuesday where I saw how God helps us achieve all of our goals. We had set some good (but hard) goals that morning during planning and then I lowkey forgot about them during the day (whoops), but as I looked back throughout the day I realized that all of them had been achieved! In the South Visitor's Center, this French couple really wanted to learn more but we didn't have anyone that could take them around in French, I thought that all was lost when all of the sudden I just gave them a referral card and told them to put their name, contact info, and address and we would send some missionaries to them in France. They immediately agreed (like what? people never do that) and then two minutes later they were gone and I was able to give the referral to a French sister. What a miracle! That made us achieve our goal of teaching a lesson in the South Visitor's Center. A lesson is teaching a principle, extending an invitation, and asking for contact info by the way. And we did all three of those things! Yay! We had North Visitor's Center right after that and then even though no one took me up on the offer, I invited at least five people to go up to the Christus and we could play the audio for them. I realize that people have their agency and we can invite and invite and eventually someone will accept. So that was us reaching another goal that we had set to invite someone to go to the Christus and hear the audio!

We took not one, not two, but THREE tours on Wednesday and poor Sister Harris was about to fall over by the end of the day. We had a regular scheduled tour, we took a member family with their German exchange student on a last-minute tour, and then we took a VERY LAST MINUTE GERMAN TOUR literally 20 minutes before we were supposed to go home for the day. Have I ever mentioned that I hate giving German tours because I suck at German? But you know it is okay because the Lord provides a way and the gift of tongues is real. They all spoke English except for the Grandma anyway so it wasn't too bad if I forgot a word because I could just ask and they would know the word and I could then just keep plugging along. We actually have given like three German tours in the past week which is crazy because usually I maybe, MAYBE give one a week so maybe God is telling me that I should really study German more. The other stand out German tour that we took was for this German young couple that were members and went to BYUI and the guy's parents that were not members, kind of crazy to meet a young person from Germany that were members. Anyways, it went well and at the end we gave the parents a card for the Book of Mormon because according to them "they don't have enough time to read it" so I just told them that they could listen to it while they drive. Noice sister Moran. Anyways, I've noticed as well that I have a lot more luck with the German people than with the native English speakers and I think that it is because my German is not so good so everyone will just accept a Book of Mormon and contact information because they just feel bad saying no. Hey, whatever works right? 

There were outbound calls in Relief Society this past Thursday and 23 sisters got called, including TWO from my group. Crazy. The rest of us will probs start going in the next few transfers. I hope that I can go in January so I can be here for Christmas and for the lights and then leave during the dead season and come back for General Conference and then just go home not too long after. That would be ideal, hopefully, God agrees with me because I really want to go in January. 

Sister Harris and I have started a new tradition in the mission. FRISBEE FRIDAY!!! Basically, every Friday during exercise time we invite a bunch of sisters to go and play frisbee with us at the track of a high school not too far from where we live. We had about 14 sisters go this past week and that was good. The problem was, we only had a dinky one dollar frisbee and it literally broke two minutes into the game (sad) but then we noticed that there were some coaches and a bunch of student athletes that were doing early morning practice that were starting to show up so Sister Doman asked if we could borrow a frisbee and then return it in like 20 minutes. And, because we are serving our mission in Utah, they said yes!!! Our team ended up winning 2-1 and I caught both of the "touchdowns" (I don't know if that is what they are called but oh well). One of them was particularly epic because I dove for it and did a sick roll at the end to complete the catch for the point. Boom nailed it. Sister Harris afterward mentioned that she had no idea I was so good at frisbee. I guess that I am just a woman of many talents. 

Okay so update on Sister Harris: she is quite sick. She still can't keep anything down but protein drinks and plain toast and the past few days she hasn't even been able to keep those down. We had a doctor appointment yesterday where she swallowed some Barium and they tracked it in an x-ray as it went down. The only thing that they found was that she has a small hernia and some reflux, but both of those are results of the throwing up and not the reason she is throwing up so we still have no idea what is happening. We are having a scope done on Thursday and hopefully that will give us some more answers. But poor Sister Harris can't take it any longer. She threw up late last night and she texted President that she can't do it anymore. It has been almost three months that she has been throwing up and not eating and she has lost probably around 20-30 pounds and it is just really bad. She spends a lot of time napping during the day because she just doesn't have energy and needs more rest. She has told me that when she was still outbound she felt like she needed to go home and she felt peaceful about it and it sucked but that she was going to do it, but them President Fisher called and said no you can get better at Temple Square so just come here and she felt okay about that too but now that she is here and she is praying about it again, she just feels like she needs to go home. She told President Fisher lowkey and they are going to talk later today, but he wants her to stay and see what happens with the scope and I don't want her to go but I think that it might be best because she is just so so sick. I pray for her so much you have no idea. So so much. Like literally every time I say a prayer, even if it is just a personal prayer for food, I pray for her, but she isn't improving and they still don't have any answers. I think it might be best for her to go home and get better there, even though it sucks. It also sucks not being able to do as much work and go as fast and do as much, but I know that companion work is more important than missionary work so hopefully she just gets better. 

On the brighter side, we found six people in two hours this week on teaching center which is good because the queue has been dead lately so it is nice that we finally could do some finding, especially for Sister Harris because she had a big fat zero people. Also, SHARON IS ON DATE!!!!! HER AND HER THREE KIDS FOR SEPTEMBER 28!!!! It is such a huge miracle because we literally found her like maybe two weeks ago and she was just so prepared. We love calling her and following up and just talking with her. What a nice lady. So pray for Sharon that she will continue to progress and stay on track for her date. 

Okay, I think that is all but I could be wrong but oh well it is good enough. I love you both and I'll probs call you soon!!! 

Love 

Em 

This is His Work

HEYOOOOO! This week has been really good! We had another miracle with prayer but this time it was because we needed to teach like four lessons in a day and God made it happen! I've been thinking about it a lot lately, how this is God's work and not mine. Yes I am the one doing it and I am technically laboring but I am not really doing anything of worth, it is all God. That is why it is so important to do the little things. To be obedient, read our scriptures, pray, be kind and just try because that is how we can have the spirit with us. President Nelson has said that it will be impossible to survive spiritually in coming days without the constant companionship of the spirit and I second that. I remember at USU, I was praying (kinda) and reading my scriptures (sorta) every day but I can see that I was struggling spiritually. I consider it kind of a miracle that I made it out on the mission tbh. Anyways, seeing how my daily prayers and scripture study has impacted my life for the better makes me never want to miss a day. The blessings and the spirit that we receive in return is not even comparable to little effort we have to put in. I'm so grateful that I was able to learn this lesson and that God hasn't given up on me. I'm grateful that this is HIS work and not my work because if it was my work it would fall apart immediately. But, because it is His work, we can have four lessons in a day and see people come closer to Jesus Christ. How neat is that? 

This week we had our zone service project and IT WAS SO FUN!!! We went to the humanitarian center (we give tours there but I have never been) and we put together kits. We did school kits and we did cleaning kits. It was like an assembly line type thing and I had so much fun. Like words can not even describe how much fun I had. I was just movin and groovin and putting all of these things in these bins and making it all fit at LIGHTNING speed and I don't think I have ever had more fun in my whole life. Okay maybe that is an exaggeration but it was super legit. Some sisters were even commenting on how fast I was going (not a competition but hey I like to work effectively). Afterward, I was talking to Sister Rasmussen (from Canada) and I told her that this was my idea first date when I got home from the mission. Let's look at the pros: free, you are serving other people, it is SO FUN, and you can talk while you work and get to know the other person. Win, win, win situation. Hopefully, boys will think the same thing haha. 

As I told mom on the phone, our man Kevin still doesn't understand why he needs to get baptized again. He told the Elders when they went over (keep in mind this is after we re-explained priesthood authority and put him on date for the 23) that "the sisters want me to get baptized on the 23 and I understand what the priesthood is and that only your church has it but I still don't see why I need to get baptized again, my baptism on April 6, 1986 changed me so I don't see why I need to do it again". Lol. The Elders explained baptism for the remission of sins and all that good stuff and read some scriptures in the Bible with him and everything and hopefully his understanding will come with time as we teach him more. We were supposed to teach the Plan of Salvation with the local missionaries via facetime on Sunday but then homeboy didn't show up for church. Come on Kevin. So we texted him but his responses were so weird so we were like okay we will back off maybe he is just like feeling like we are all over him. We got a text from him and he had not one, but TWO strokes yesterday and was in the hospital. It explains the weirdness. We are praying for him and we asked the Elders to go over and give him a blessing and hopefully this will be an opportunity for him to better understand what the Priesthood is and why it is so important. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways and I'm hoping that this is one of those times. 

Our two recent converts from the last transfer are doing so AMAZING!!! Richard who was like not talking to us finally responded after I texted him again. He said that he was meeting with the Bishop after church on Sunday (yesterday) to get his Temple Recommend. YAYAY. Also, he is ENGAGED to his 21-year-old fiancee who is endowed. Homeboy is only 19. Good work Richard. We don't know yet if they are going to wait the year to get married in the Temple or if they will get married civilly soon and then go to the Temple once Richard is able to but either way, super exciting. Rodrigo is also still the cutest thing ever. I didn't text him for almost two weeks because I don't speak Spanish and he pretty much only speaks Spanish despite the fact that he lives here in UT. But I kept feeling like I needed to. So with the help of some Spanish sisters (thank you Temple Square), I texted him. He said he would rather text in English so he could practice so that is what we have been doing. We send each other cool pictures we take with our phones. He told me that this Sunday he got the Aaronic priesthood and he will be going to the Temple soon. I am so excited for him! He has been reading his scriptures and praying every day and he is just so excited and it is TOO CUTE. 

Also, if you remember Johnetta she is a hoot. We have been with her for a while and she wants to get baptized but her dad is a preacher for another church and it would break his heart. She is in her 60s and her dad is having some bad health problems right now so she has told the elders that she will just get baptized once he passes away. Kind of weird but you know okay. She has stopped progressing though lately. She hasn't gone to church in a while and we haven't had too much contact with her. The Elder that has been with her for a long time is going home and the new comp doesn't know her at all and she texted us and said that "Elder Mears is going home and it is too much change and I don't want new missionaries so I am going to stop meeting with her". That was super hard to hear ESP because the Elders did a whole lesson about how she needs to keep meeting with missionaries even though Elder Mears is leaving and she said she would but now she isn't. She said that she would still talk to us and she would keep listening to the Book of Mormon every day and pray but she just won't talk to the missionaries every day. Elder Mears is doing what he can during his short time left but it is still hard. So maybe pray for Johnetta and that her heart will be softened because right now it is kind of hard. 

This week was good but it was weird, like a dream. I feel like for a while I was on cloud nine, especially with Sister Costilla. I remember one day near the end of my time with her I was just like "wow everything is going awesome and we have lots of new people and we are teaching a lot and wow life is good" and then I thought right after that "the Lord is going to knock me down soon I feel it". And boy was I right. It is good that the converts are going strong and everything but the people that we are teaching are just all kind of falling apart and the queue is dead so we can't find new people and life is just a little hard right now but it is okay. I will keep doing what I need to do. Be obedient, read my scriptures and say my prayers and work hard and I know that the Lord will make up the rest. This is His work after all. 

Anyways, I was thinking that this would be a short email but I was wrong so whoops. I hope you have an awesome week and hopefully next week I will be able to call earlier so I can talk to you too dad. But I love you both and thanks so much for all of your support. Also, this Bluetooth keyboard is seriously the bomb so thanks again for that. Love and miss you both so much!

Love 

Em 

Ich Spreche Deutsch?

Hey Everyone! I feel like I say that every week was really good but it is true! Every week here on Temple Square is good for one reason or the other. Sister Johnson and I saw a lot of miracles through the power of prayer this week. 

We had weekly planning on Friday and we were reviewing our goal for new people. We had five people out of the eight that we made a goal to find and we were desperate to be able to achieve our goal. We made a plan and we prayed and asked for Heavenly Father's help to be able to find three new people. We were really specific and we asked that we would each be able to find a new person who was prepared to hear the gospel that day and then we figured the next day we would be able to find one more between the both of us. It seemed impossible but we had faith and God answered our prayer almost immediately! We both got on Teaching Center and on both of our first phone calls we were able to teach them and then set up a return appointment to teach them more. What a miracle! We ended up finding nine new people out of the eight that we had set a goal for. I know that when we pray and we have faith that our prayers will be answered, God will always provide an answer. 

Sister Johnson and I took our first German tour together this week and it went pretty well! Absolutely no one else could take it so we ended up doing it during our study time (sacrifice brings blessings, right?) and the couple was really sweet! I was really nervous because we hadn't role-played it at all but I can say that the gift of tongues is for sure real. 

Last but certainly not least, we met in Taijah in person today!!! I don't know if any of you remember but she is the one out of the 35 referrals that Sister Broadbent and I got at General Conference that worked. She was on date to be baptized and then fell off because her parents are really not supportive. She lives here in Utah and we invited her up to Temple Square and she came! We took her around on a tour and the spirit was so strong, especially when we went up to the Christus and talked about how Christ can help us with everything in our lives, even the small things. She told us it was just what she needed to hear. I love Taijah and I am so grateful that she made it to Temple Square so we could talk to her and show her that we love her:) 

That is all for this week and thank you for all of the love and support, I love being a missionary! 

Sister Moran 

**********************

Hey Mom and Dad! This week was really fun and I am finally warming up to Sister Johnson! 

We had our Pioneer Day mission activity this week which was good. The first half of the day we were on Square and we did Assembly Hall and proselyting and some Teaching Center and then around one we went to the This Is The Place Memorial park thing and it was really cool. They have a pioneer village with doughnuts and ice cream (can you tell what my favorite part of the day was?) and some other cool things. Sister Johnson and I decided to ride the train around and learn more about the village. I think we should get a train at Temple Square and give tours super fast and furious as we drive. Maybe I'll tell president about it? It was really fun,  I ate a lot of junk food, and I got super sweaty and was in the sun for about three hours straight. No worries though, my mission has really changed me into a responsible adult and now I put on sunscreen when I know that I am going to be going outside. 

Because of the mission activity, everyone had to be on the square until 9 pm. We were planning on doing some Teaching Center when we got back but because all 200 of us were on square, there were no computers open to do so. We went to West Gate to see if we could pick up some shifts but again because there were 200 sisters on the square, everything was covered. We decided to proselyte the rest of the night on the square and we spent most of our time in the South Visitor's Center. It was awesome! We ended up teaching a lesson and having some really meaningful contacts. Sister Johnson was pretty frustrated after though because every person that she had talked to was not interested and shrugged her off. She then proceeded to talk to members only for the rest of the night because she knew that they would talk to her. She made a new goal to talk to more nonmembers and not just go to members as a cop-out and I am excited for her! I have noticed that she has a tendency to just talk to the safe people so I am excited to see how her new goal is going to make her grow and become even better than she is right now (which is pretty awesome).

 

We had a very big miracle happen this week and it really showed me the power of prayer. We were doing weekly planning on Friday and reviewing our goals and we realized that we still needed three new people to reach our goal of having eight and we had less than two days to do so. Slightly stressful. So we just prayed that Heavenly Father would help us find new people to teach so that we could reach our goal. We prayed again before we sat for Teaching Center time and lo and behold Sister Johnson and I called some people at the exact same time and they both became new people! The first phone call that we had with them and the first calls we had even attempted to make all day long. What a miracle! Later that day we found one more person to reach our goal of eight and then the next day we found one more and exceeded our goal. What a miracle. We shouldn't have been able to reach our goal but God listened to our prayers and helped us find and retain those people that are ready to hear the gospel.

Sister Johnson and I took our first motorcoach (large group tour of 15 or more people) this week. We had 45 people to preach to in this particular group and I was both nervous and excited. I knew that our tours needed some work. Sister Johnson tends to just repeat the exact same thing that I say because she zones out. No worries, though we are getting better at paying attention and going with the flow of what our companion says. Anyways, we had gotten a call informing us that the tour we were taking was not going to be a tour where would want to share the religion because apparently there were people in the tour that were not fond of our religion. I was like okay but I am a missionary so I am going to preach anyways. At our first stop (the handcart pioneer monument) these two people from Australia said some rude question about polygamy and the temple or something and I just looked them dead in the eye, told them the correct answer, and then laughed and invited them to double check their resources because there was a lot of false information out there. You should have seen their faces. They shut up real quick the rest of the tour because I was not having it. But the rest of the motorcoach went really well! There were good questions at the end and we made them laugh, we felt the spirit, we invited them to change their lives (aka repent) and we invited them all to have copies of the Book of Mormon and to stay in contact with us. None of them wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon and no one wanted to stay in contact but you know it be like that sometimes. At the beginning of my mission, I would have thought that the tour was a failure because no one wanted to stay in contact or have a copy but now I don't feel bad at all. I invited them and did everything that I was supposed to do, they have their agency. Of course, I will continue to assess how I could make the tours better so in the future it may be more likely that they will accept some more of the invitations, but I don't feel bad because I did what I was supposed to do wow. growth. Also, this one lady at the end raised her hand like she was asking a question and she said that she didn't have a question but that she thought that "you ladies are doing a wonderful job representing your families and your church" and that just made my day. 

We took our first German tour together this weekend it didn't go too bad! We got a call from West Gate when we were doing our studies and they asked us if we could skip personal study to take the tour and you could tell Sister Johnson didn't want to and neither did I but hey they needed help and the Germans needed saving. It went pretty well all things considered. My German is still super broken and I should probably ask for some language study time so that way it gets less broken haha. We ended off at the Christus and we both bore our testimonies and you could tell they felt slightly uncomfy but hey it was good. Plus they were really nice and they said they could understand everything that I had said and they wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon so all things considered it went pretty well. Another miracle with prayer happened later that same day because we literally had zero assignments, just Teaching Center so we prayed that we would find ways to fill our day. We ended up skipping dinner and having it later to cover South Visitor's Center and then we covered it again after dinner and we had so many miracles and God really made us tools in His hands. We were able to teach two lessons and get two people's contact information! One of which was a family from South Korea but they spoke English. I explained the Temple Model to them and about who we believe God is and our relationship with Him and how the Book of Mormon helps us grow that relationship and what the Book of Mormon even was and dang I almost cried when I was talking with them the spirit was so strong and I could tell they felt it too. In the end, I got them a copy of the Book of Mormon in Korean and in English and the dad said, "Wow, I almost joined your religion when you were talking." I think that he will eventually join it and I have his contact info so we will see where these things go. 

We put Kevin on date this week for August 23 and like I told you, I just straight up told him that his baptism wasn't done by the right authority and that it wasn't valid. Maybe it was mean but we had tried to say it nicely but it wasn't getting through to him so I just told him straight up and man Sister Johnson seemed horrified. But hey it worked because now he knows what the priesthood is and why it is important and he wants to get baptized. Sometimes you just need to be bold. 

Also, the tour with Taijah went awesome! I love her even more now that I have met her in person. She was asking lots of questions and we were laughing and sharing scriptures and testifying and inviting. I'm glad she came. We got pizza after and just got to know her a little bit better and she is super cool. She thinks she wants to transfer to a college in NY after this year so we shall see. If she does, then she could probs get baptized there because then she won't have her anti parents scaring her away from what she wants to do. Plus she is so cute and sweet. I'm grateful that we could take her around, even if it was our pday, so worth it. 

I think that is all I have for this week! Love you both and miss you so much! Also, I typed this whole thing on my Bluetooth keyboard and this thing is the bomb I swear. Thanks for sending it to me. 

Love, 

Em